Iuris praecepta sunt: honeste vivere, alterum no laedere, suum cuique tribuere.
(Justinian, Institutes 1.1)

pron = YOO-ris prai-KEP-tah soont hoh-NES-tay WEE-weh-reh AHL-teh-room noh LAI-deh-reh soom KWEE-kweh trih-BOO-eh-reh

The requirements of the law are these: to live honestly, to harm no other, to honor each according to his essential dignity.

Comment: I was sitting in my car, in the dark, in my own garage. I couldn't turn off the radio and go inside. My mouth was hanging open.
I had been listening to Ira Glass' radio program from NPR called
"This American Life". A mother and her 12 year old daughter were
telling the heart-wrenching story of how the daughter, as a 9 year old 4th grader had been treated on the first anniversary of 9/11 in her public school classroom.

She is an American Muslim. Her school district bought and distributed literature on the anniversary of 9/11 in 2002 claiming that the tragedy was the work of Muslims--all of whom believe (the booklet affirmed) that non-Muslims must be killed. Short of retelling the entire story, the 9 year old ended up dropping out of school. Her young siblings were routinely harassed at school. Her father fell into a deep depression:
he was watching his own children being treated the same way he was on the west bank of Gaza as a child.

Believe it or not, this really isn't me writing about politics. I am only point out the story to say that Justinian summed up the very best of law in this short proverb, and that any place, any people, any country, including the USA can fall short of these very basic ideals:

1) Live honestly. When you've judged wrongly, the honest thing is to say so and make amends.

2) Harm no one. NO ONE! No one likes to be harmed. No one comes away from being harmed better for it. People come away from being harmed hurt.

3) Honor each person for the human dignity that is his/hers by birth.

A nation is just and free not because of its history, or its documents, but because of how it practices justice and freedom today.